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Cherie Bennett, interviewed at Kiwibox.com, by Ava F., age 13 May, 2001 Who was your inspiration to begin writing? This is a great question. My dad was a writer (he wrote for television and some famous TV advertisements, so that was a big push for me). When I read Anne Frank's diary as a girl, that had a huge effect on me too. And now that I think about it, some of my favorite books as a girl, like The Member of the Wedding and To Kill a Mockingbird were inspiring too. Do you like to write alone or with your husband Jeff Gottesfeld better? Another great question I've never been asked. It's funny, because it depends on the project. There are some projects that seem to us to be natural to write together, like our TV stuff and Ann Frank and Me. There are others that seem to be natural to write separately, like Life in the Fat Lane. Jeff is working on a book for junior high kids now that is nonfiction and that is historical. I for one would never even want to co-write that. My plays I write alone, and Jeff is also working solo on a picture book for little kids. But the series stuff, we love to write together. So I'd have to say it depends on the project. It's like the projects tell us whether to write together or apart. Where do you get ideas for your books? Lots of places. Reader mail, for one. That inspired Life in the Fat Lane. Articles we clip from magazines and newspapers, for another. That inspired Anne Frank and Me. Imagination, for another. That inspired Zink. We have ideas we've been talking about for more than ten years now that we'd like to turn into stories. It's just is a matter of the idea becoming the idea of the moment. If it sounds like we're not hurting for material, you're right. A lot of your books are very funny but they deal with teen issues. How do you fit the two together? Because, why should they be separate, teen issues and humor? As much as I remember hating the middle school and high school jungle, I also remember that I had hilarious friends and my friends and I did hilarious things. I try to bring the truth of teen life to my books, even the painful ones like Zink and Anne Frank and Me. You have to work carefully to make the balance work, but I think it can be done. Some of your books such as the Trash series, Life in the Fat Lane, Girls in Love and the Pageant series leave us, your readers, hanging. Why do you do this to us? Ah, the cliffhanger issue. On the series side, like with Trash and Teen Angels, they are ended by call of the publisher, not by me. I begged to do a last Teen Angels book to wrap things up, but I couldn't make a go of it. But in Trash, I was able to persuade my publisher, after they stopped the series, to let me finish out the Trash plots in the Pageant series' final two books, by crossing the characters. I'm proud of that. The rest of the question has to do with where to end a story. In Life in the Fat Lane, we end it with Lara at 208 pounds, saying she'd be okay no matter what happened. Now, I have a lot of ideas for a sequel, but that seemed a natural end for this chapter of Lara's journey. Yes, I want to know what happens with her and Jett and her weight and everything, but for this part of her journey, where the book ended felt right. Any ideas you've got for a sequel? (See that e-mail address at the beginning?) Do you base the books on true life or do you make up stories that fit into real life? It's a mix of the two. My own experience with the delightful drug prednisone has a big impact on Life in the Fat Lane, because the drug made me gain a lot of weight quickly. Other times, it's more subtle. I have characters in books who reflect people I know in real life, and I have characters who are wholly made up. Sometimes a real life incident or idea can spark an idea for a novel. For example, all the controversies about the Confederate flag have something to do with our next novel, A Heart Divided. Zink was heavily influenced by my friend Alicia O'Brien ANGEL HERO: ALICIA O'BRIEN (see the story at myhero.com that I wrote about Alicia, and her courageous battle with brain cancer). It's one of the great things about being a writer, being able to create your own worlds! You keep mentioning your book, Life in the Fat Lane. Is that your favorite of the books you have written? No. I think my favorite is Zink, but you're asking me to rate my children! I think that of what Jeff and I have written together, Anne Frank and Me is the best. What do you plan to do with your books in the future? Generally, keep writing gripping stories. The next one should be really controversial (A Heart Divided), and then I have another idea that is too new to talk about yet, but it is going to be really controversial. Any advice for us teens who are interested in becoming writers? Yes. Read, read, read, and write, write, write. I also strongly suggest that you pay attention to reading plays, because the best plays have such true dialogue, and you can't hide behind your exposition or your narrative. One great trick is to read part way into a scene, and then write the rest of the scene, then compare what you've written to what the playwright did. It works! |
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